The main topics on the agenda at AUSMIN, as the meeting is known, Little said, will include a discussion of challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, ways to improve and deepen alliance cooperation, and issues affecting global security.

This year’s AUSMIN is scheduled Sept. 14-16. Attendees will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty, signed in 1951 by the United States, Australia and New Zealand, he added.

According to the U.S. State Department, the treaty is Australia's pre-eminent formal security treaty alliance.

Little said Clinton and Panetta will greet Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defense Minister Stephen Smith on Sept. 15 at the Presidio, where the ANZUS treaty was signed.